Today Dinner Chapter 9

"You're a whore, a whore does not change overtime and you know that." He whispers back, loud enough for the older couple sitting across to hear. And they couldn't help but gasps in shock, as the older woman soaks her teeth in distaste while the older man frowns. "What did you just call me? Ethan, what did you call me? If you can't trust me, then maybe we shouldn't be together." She said, her voice barely above whisper and her eyes teary. But she felt like this was all a dream, they have been quarreling lately but not like this. It has never been like this. Earlier today when she told her sister, Eloise, about this dinner, they all hoped for an engagement. But this doesn't look like an engagement dinner, or does it?. This was some of the last words Aurelia heard from her boyfriend before she stumbled heartbroken into a bar where she meets the man who changed her life.

Due to my outstanding work performance, my boss grants me special permission to have flexible working hours. I am out until very late last night meeting a client, and I have only been asleep for a while when a call from my colleague wakes me up. "It's already 9:30 am! Why are you late again today?" I explain to her patiently that I worked overtime last night to finalize things with a client and have them sign the contract, so I won't be going into the office in the morning. My colleague snickers. "You'd better not think that you can skip work whenever you like just because you've achieved top sales in our department. "Today is our boss' son, Mr. Hammond's first day in the office. He might just tell you to pack your things and leave if you were to upset him in any way!" Despite the splitting headache I'm having, I try to recall it in my head. Alex Hammond, the man she's just mentioned, sounds very much like that fiance of mine, who desperately wants to tie the knot with me.

เขาและเธอคบกันนานถึง 9ปี มีความทรงจำดี ๆ เกิดขึ้นมากมาย เราวาดฝันถึงงานแต่งงานราวกับสวรรค์สร้าง วันที่ได้ใส่ชุดคู่บ่าวสาวยืนเคียงข้าง สร้างครอบครัวที่อบอุ่นมีลูกน้อยที่น่ารักด้วยกัน ความรักของเธอกับเขาช่างหอมหวานจนไม่คิดว่าวันหนึ่งมันจะเดินทางมาถึงจุดจบเสมือนว่า 9 ปีที่ผ่านไม่มีค่าอะไรเลย

On Valentine's Day, I set up a candlelit dinner and waited. At 9 PM, my husband, Alfred Johnston, finally texted. [Something came up at work. Don't wait for me.] Then I saw her post. [On a business trip with the CEO for Valentine's Day. Every hotel is fully booked—awkward...] Vivian Bianca, his secretary. Attached was a photo of a guy in a bathrobe, standing by a floor-to-ceiling window. The comments were all 'ooh, CEO's so hot and girl, you're in for a night.' Vivian? Just dropped a smug emoji. So that's what "something came up" meant—a romantic getaway with his secretary. I screenshotted it, posted it on my own feed, and added a smiling emoji. A second later, Alfred called, fuming. "Vivian was joking! Why are you so petty? She's young, not as calculating as you!" I didn't let him finish. "Then let's get a divorce. That way, I won't have to care when you screw around and catch something."

Due to my outstanding performance, Mdm. Hall granted me flexible working hours. After a full night of entertaining clients, I had barely fallen asleep when a colleague’s call jolted me awake. “It’s already 9:30 a.m.! How could you be late again?” I patiently explained that I had worked late signing contracts last night. So, I would not be coming into the office this morning. However, my colleague scoffed. “Don’t think that being the top salesperson gives you free rein to skip work! “The heiress, Ms. Hall, is visiting the office for the first time today! “If you upset her, you’d better watch out. She’ll have you fired!” I pushed through my headache and searched my memory. The heiress he mentioned was Cadence Hall. If I was not mistaken, she was the woman who had been desperate to marry into my family.

After my husband's first love, Sydney Edwards, used me as a walking blood bank, I died in the run-down rental apartment my billionaire husband, Casper Hawthorne, had tossed me into like it was a blessing for me. Today was the third day since I had died. My six-year-old son, Adam, finally realized something was wrong. He had cut his finger while playing with his toys, yet I did not comfort him. He tore open a packet of crackers and raised one to my mouth to feed me, but I did not stop him. He lay in my arms, clutching my clothes and whispering for me. Still, I did not answer. Lost and panicking, he found my phone and called his father, Casper. "Dad, why is Mom still sleeping?" The man sent back a photo of himself having New Year's Eve dinner with Sydney and said in a cold voice, "She's just sleeping, she's not dead. Today is New Year's Eve. I'm busy. Tell that clueless mom of yours that when she's ready to admit she was wrong, she can come and look for me." After the call ended, Adam stood there frozen for a long time. He picked up the last biscuit in the rental apartment from the trash can, broke it in half, and held one piece to my mouth. "Mom, let's eat too."

When my boyfriend came to my family home to ask for my hand in marriage, my sister-in-law, who was usually cold and aloof, became a completely different person. She flung her arm around me warmly and asked, “Cassie, who’s your favorite? This boyfriend or one of the dozen or so men that you’ve brought home before?” As I denied her accusation and interrupted her, she cheekily batted her eyelashes at my boyfriend and cooed, “Oh, yes, yes. Cassie has never brought another man home. You’re the lucky first!” In the midst of dinner, she deliberately took her own soiled underwear out of the bathroom, pinched her nose, and waved it around as she screeched, “Oh my goodness, Cassie! I know you don’t really care about hygiene, but we have guests today! How can you have no shame? It smells so bad!”

WARNING: Things heat up from chapter 9… proceed only if you can handle ALL THREE. *** They each stepped forward, hungry for me to choose, but I let them burn a little longer. My eyes roam over all of them, slow and wicked. A smirk curved my lips. “I don’t want one,” I purred. “I want all of you. Every single one. All at once.” *** Calla thought she could escape the past. But the moment she steps into her stepfather’s mansion, the powerful Alpha, she comes face-to-face with the three most dangerous, irresistible, and infuriating men she’s ever known. They are rich, cunning, and deadly handsome. They are her stepbrothers, triplets and her mates. Bound by a bond she never consented to, torn between desire and taboo, Calla must navigate lust, betrayal, and secrets that could destroy them all. In a world where power, passion, and obsession collide, the question remains: who will survive the Sin… and who will surrender?

ก่อนจะมาเป็นองครักษ์วังหลวง ทำงานรับใช้ใต้ท้าวเฉินลู่ซี ข้า เจิ้งหมิง เป็นเพียงชาวยุทธพเนจรเท่านั้น ไม่เคยสนใจหญิงใดในใต้หล้า ไม่นึกเลยว่า แม่ของลูกข้า จะเป็นคนเช่นนาง ณารา เป็นตำรวจลับจากห้วงอนาคตในอีกสามร้อยกว่าปีข้างหน้า ฉากหน้าของนางคือ นักแสดงสาวชื่อดังระดับเอเชีย ที่ต้องมาที่นี่ ก็เพราะนางถูกพ่อค้ายาเสพติดฆ่าตาย! ความวุ่นวายเรื่มต้นขึ้น เมื่อวิญญาณของนาง ต้องมาอยู่ในร่าง “จ้าวเจี้ยนฟาง” ธิดาคนเล็กของท่านอ๋อง 9 ซึ่งถูกลอบสังหารเช่นกัน โชคดีที่ข้าพบนางกลางป่า ข้าจึงช่วยนางไว้ แล้วพามาอยู่กับใต้ท้าวเฉินลู่ซี นางจึงใช้ความเป็นตำรวจลับของนางช่วยข้าสืบคดีการหายตัวไปของหญิงตั้งครรภ์ในเมืองฉางโจว

ความรักบนความแตกต่าง ระหว่างลูกชาย ‘มหาเศรษฐี’ กับลูกสาว ‘คนรับใช้’ ถึงแม้จะเลิกรากันไป แต่พวกเขาหลีกหนีกันไม่พ้น เพราะพวกเขาได้ฝากหัวใจไว้กับอีกคนเมื่อ 9 ปีก่อน พวกเขาจึงกลับมารักกันอีกครั้งในวันที่เติบโต แต่เพราะชาติกำเนิดของ ‘พิยดา’ ต้อยต่ำ จะวันนี้ หรือวันไหน ‘ความรัก’ จึงเป็นได้แค่ ‘ความลับ’ และนับถอยหลังรอวันเลิกรา